Both Marines died November 2, 2005, when their
AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter crashed while flying in support of security
and stabilization operations near Ar Ramadi, Iraq. Both Marines were
with Marine Light-Attack Helicopter Squadron 369, Marine Aircraft Group
39, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton,
California. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, their unit was attached to
2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, II MEF (Forward).

The crash is currently under investigation.

Media with questions about these Marines can
call the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Public Affairs Office at (858) 577-6021.
A helicopter crash in Iraq,claims the life of a Marine
with roots in mid-Michigan. Major Gerald Bloomfield died on Tuesday while
serving in Iraq. The Marine is a Fowlerville High School graduate who died
after a crash in his Cobra helicopter.

Bloomfield's family lives in Livingston County.

Kate Kerch, sister: "He was just passionate,
passionate about everything."

Passion was something major Gerald Bloomfield
had in spades. As a kid in the 80s, he was known around Fowlerville as
a daredevil, a free spirit. His sisters remember once how Jerry,
or Jer as they called him, got stuck with a friend on a frozen lake.

Kate Kerch: "They were doing donuts and the
car went into the lake, and they just sat on the hood and laughed."

But those who knew Jerry, also knew he was
smart.

Paula Wallace, sister: "Smart, smart, smart."

At Eastern Michigan University he earned double
degrees in math and physics. Before graduating in '89, he joined the Marines.
Becoming and officer and eventually a pilot. Y ears later, married and
with a son, he was a career military man who believed in the job he was
doing in Iraq.

Paula: "By being there, he was protecting us
and everything we have here."

And he also believed in the freedom and the
future of the country he was fighting in. He wrote about it in email sent
home.

Kate: "It's not a 3rd world country. I believe
it has hope. He wanted them to experience some of the same freedoms we
have here."

And it's his sisters wish that people who knew
her brother in Fowlerville understand this, a s well as the people of Iraq
and in the country he was so proud to defend. Major Bloomfield will be
laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery.
Published November 5, 2005Family mourns Marine killed in IraqFowlerville grad is school's third casualty

FOWLERVILLE, MICHIGAN - Friends and family
are remembering Gerald Bloomfield II as a good-natured, humorous man who
was focused on his career as a Marine and loved every minute of it.

Bloomfield II, a 38-year-old Major, died Wednesday
when his AH-1W Super Cobra heli- copter crashed about 70 miles west of
Baghdad. The co-pilot, Captain Michael Martino, 32, of Fairfax, Virginia,
also was killed.

Bloomfield II, of Ypsilanti, is the third Fowlerville
High School graduate to have died in the war, joining Lance Corporals Michael
Hanks and Andrew Kilpela.

"He would fly high and see the green and know
things were changing," his father, Gerald Bloomfield, said of his son's
experiences in Iraq. He'd see "power lines going up - all the stuff you
don't hear about in the news, all the good things going on. He was optimistic
about a country coming back."

Bloomfield II graduated from Fowlerville High
School in 1984. He graduated from Eastern Michigan University and was on
his third tour in Iraq.

Fun times remembered

His former band teacher, Terri Palazzolo, said
she remembers Bloomfield II as a good kid who also was mischievous at times.

"When something funny happened, there was no
question of who was behind it," Palazzolo said.

"He never let an opportunity for a dare pass
him by."

Palazzolo said she recalled how Bloomfield
II and some of his friends once toilet-papered her car, and another time
during band "initiation" when older members turned him upside down and
stuck him in a garbage can.

But Fowlerville's Kraig Sacker said he was
amazed at how much Bloomfield II had turned his life around when the two
talked at their 20th class reunion in 2004.

"I sat down with him for a good 20 minutes
to half-hour at the reunion," Sacker said, "and what he has accomplished
and done with his life is amazing.

"Having three (Fowlerville High School) people
getting killed for doing their duty over there is tough, but listening
to Jerry, he felt strongly it was for a good cause."

The Livingston County community has a population
of a little more than 3,100.

Bloomfield II received a score of accolades
during his time with the Marines, which stretched back to 1989, including
the Global War on Terror Service Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon and
the National Defenses Service Medal.

"You always have that feeling in the back of
your head it could happen, but when it happens, you're so unprepared because
you just don't want to believe it," Wallace said about her brother's death.
"It's painful. It's a huge life that had so much more to go. We're just
kind of standing here waiting for him to come back."

No date has been set for funeral or memorial
services, but his father said his son will be buried at Arlington National
Cemetery.

Hundreds attend memorial for Cobra pilots
who died in Iraq

Julie
Gill-Bloomfield, the widow of Major Gerald Bloomfield II, receives hugs
at the conclusion of
the memorial service for both Bloomfield and Captain MIchael Martino

Nearly one week after burying him at
Arlington National Cemetery and minutes after a memorial service at Camp
Pendleton on Monday, Sybil Martino said she is convinced her fallen son,
Captain Michael D. Martino, gave his life in war in a quest for peace.

"The Bible talks about peacemakers and I believe
Michael was born to be a peacemaker," Sybil Martino said as she sat at
a table with her son's dog tags around her neck. "He died doing what he
loved and what he believed in."

Martino, 32, and Major Gerald M. Bloomfield
II were killed on November 2, 2005, when their Camp Pendleton-based AH-1W
Cobra helicopter crashed during fighting near Ramadi, Iraq.

The pair were saluted during the 90-minute
memorial attended by more than 200 Marines from their unit, Light Attack
Helicopter Squadron 369, who gathered at the base's Marine Memorial Chapel
along with the men's family members and friends.

Bloomfield, whose call sign was "Woody," and
Martino, whose call sign was "Oprah," each were awarded posthumous Bronze
Star medals for fighting off insurgents with missile and cannon attacks
the day they died.

Seated by his wife's side after the memorial,
Martino's father, Robert, said the days since his son's death have been
among the hardest he has ever faced, but quickly added that he is resolute
in his belief that the United States should be in Iraq.

"I don't want any parent to have to go through
what me and my family are going through," he said. "But the thing that
bothers me and my family is that some of our elected officials want to
cut and run and cutting and running is something my son never would have
done. He understood the bigger picture."

The squadron's commander, Colonel Douglas Gough,
recalled both Marines as great men of integrity who served as mentors to
those around them.

"The streets of heaven are now guarded by two
more of our finest Marines," Gough said.

During his eulogy for Bloomfield, Major John
Poehler, recalled the Oceanside resident as a squadron mate, next-door
neighbor and friend for the last 12 years.

Bloomfield, who would have turned 39 on November
15, 2005, and who leaves behind his wife, Julie, and son, Ryan, died defending
the goals of his nation, Poehler said.

Addressing Ryan Bloomfield, Poehler said: "I
am in awe of the man who was your father. Tonight, I will toast my friend
and remember not how he died, but how he lived his life. Semper Fi and
farewell, my friend."

The memorial service that packed the small
chapel and filled rows of seats set up under two tents outside began with
a bagpipe rendition of "Amazing Grace" and the showing of photos of a memorial
service for Bloomfield and Martino conducted at their Iraqi air base. One
of the shots showed a handwritten sign designating the base as "Bloomfield/Martino
Field."

During his eulogy to Martino, Sergeant Major
Bill Skiles recalled spending 40 days with the 32-year-old graduate of
the University of San Diego during fighting in Fallujah in the spring of
2004.

As he began telling a story of the fighting
on one of those days, Skiles briefly broke down, and after catching himself
told the gathering that "true warriors do cry."

Regaining his composure, Skiles told the story
of Martino calling in a 500-pound bomb air strike on a house full of insurgents.
The bomb was on target, and the blast threw a goat and chicken toward where
the Marines were hunkered down.

Skiles said the goat perished, but he, Martino
and the young troops around them kept urging the chicken to move, to get
up and show it was alive and it finally did.

"Me and Captain Martino high-fived," Skiles
recalled.

The crash of the men's helicopter occurred
during a day of heavy fighting about 70 miles west of the Iraqi capital
of Baghdad. Associated Press Television News quoted an Iraqi man as saying
their aircraft was shot down by insurgents, the Pentagon has not given
an official cause.

Each man was on his second tour of duty in
Iraq.

In a pastoral reflection concluding the memorial
service, Marine Chaplain Eric Hoog said each man lived a dedicated and
committed life.

"They saw fit to put on the uniform of their
country and they died for it," Hoog said. "They died for freedom."

After the playing of "Taps" and conclusion
of the service, those assembled gathered outside for a flyover of four
Cobra helicopters, two of which broke off as they passed overhead signifying
the loss of the two Marines.

As she spoke a few minutes after the flyover,
Sybil Martino said her daughter, Lauri, is five months pregnant and that
she and her son-in-law just learned the baby is a boy.